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Inside the Mania for Fashion as Art

How a Sedate Museum Ventured to Create a Home for a Sumptuous Costume Collection

By

Christina Binkley

Updated Jan. 15, 2009 11:59 p.m. ET

Soon after Michael Govan took over at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art three years ago, costumes and textiles curator Sharon Takeda stepped into his office with an unlikely proposal.

She suggested acquiring a rare private trove of European clothes: 550 items of women's, men's and children's pieces -- including exquisite, gold-embroidered courtiers' clothing and Queen Victoria's nightie. While the collection was cohesive and substantial, covering clothing from 1700 to 1915, Ms. Takeda wondered if the new museum director...